Raising awareness for HIV and AIDS

It was World Aids Day on Tuesday, and Lincoln-based charity Positive Health supported the occasion by holding fundraising events across the city to raise awareness of the illness.

The sexual health charity, which provides information and support to people living in Lincoln with HIV and AIDS, also used the day to promote it’s own services within the city.

Positive Health advise people to get an STI check after each time they have unprotected sex or change sexual partners, at either a doctor’s surgery, GUM clinic or a sexual health charity.

Positive Health go to 80% of schools in the county giving workshops on sexual health and STIs. They also talk to young people about smoking and drinking and staying safe.

Their work is targeted at a wide range of people, as Ben James, a sexual health promotions worker, explains:

“Because we’ve got three different departments all three different departments focus on different people. Obviously the education department focus on young people, the social care department will focus on people living with HIV in the county and the outreach department work on prevention.”